The Coward and The Lion
by Saisix
Summary: After the Bounto incident Ichigo finds that some new people have been developing spirit powers. Who could it be! Will be a serious fic with semi-comedic content at first. Rated T for language and violence later on. Please Read and Review.
1. Chapter 1

Hello all. Well this will be my first attempted Bleach fic so please go easy on me.

This part is so that you know where this fic takes place. It starts as soon as Ichigo and company come back from Soul Society after defeating Kariya. So yes for me the Bounto arc is cannon (no flames for this please). Also I would like to point out that I'm not very good at writing in character with the main character's because I don't know how they act I can't think that deeply. So I'm going to try and not use them that much. I'll only use Ichigo until I switch to Kiego and Arisawa which should be in the first three chapters. And lastly I'm not going to use any honorifics (I think that is what they are called) simply because I don't know how to use them correctly (God I hate not being able to speak that language) I might use one or two when I'm absolutley sure but other wise I won't. Hmmmmm I think that's all I need to explain if more comes up I'll try to explain in story well lets begin.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters they all belong to their respective owners.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Ichigo wake up." An annoyed looking Rukia stood over a deep sleeping Ichigo and she wasn't getting any happier. "ICHIGO I SAID WAKE UP DAMMIT!"

The next thing Ichigo knew was that he had something hard and heavy land on his stomach waking him instantly. "What the hell Rukia! You could have killed me. Why didn't you just wake me up like a normal person! Why'd you have to jump on me!"

"Shut up! I tried and you wouldn't get up! Now get dressed we're gonna be late for school."

"School! I just got back yesterday I still need to recover! Fighting Kariya wasn't easy ya know"

"So! You still need to study and graduate high school. Being a Shinigami is no excuse so GET READY!."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An hour later Ichigo and Rukia were headed towards the school. At the gate they met up with the rest of the "gang".

"Oi Chad, Ishida, Inoue!"

The friends exchanged hello's and then headed inside. Looking around Ichigo couldn't find his normal human friends. He was starting to get a little worried that maybe some of the Bitto had survived and kept attacking while he was in Soul Society. That's when Ichigo saw his other friends turn the corner of the hallway and started walking towards him. Getting ready for anything Ichigo walked up to the other three teens.

"Oh hey Ichigo when did you get back from your trip?" Mizuiro politely asked.

"Yea Ichigo when did you get back? Orihime better have not gotten injured this time." was Arisawa's remark.

"My flight got in this morning. And no Inoue's fine." Ichigo decided to try and rile up his lazy friend, "So Kiego did you finally defect and get and A on a test for once?"

"Huh? Oh no I'm still a solid B- student." He said with a kind grin. "So we better get to class or we're gonna be late huh Mizuiro?"

"Yea let's go Arisawa."

"OK."

_Ok what the hell is going on here? Why are they acting so distant? _Ichigo thought. Finally the school bell rang signaling the start of first period. The day went by as a slow blur for Ichigo. His mind wondered over all the strange possibilities as to why his friends we're acting that way. _Maybe the Bitto's bites did more than I thought. Maybe the spirit transfusion did something Urahara didn't think about. I gotta go see that cursed shop owner after school and make sure Kiego will be okay. Arisawa and Mizuiro seemed ok enough.  
_

The final bell seemed to take forever, but as soon as it rang Ichigo found himself walking towards Urahara's at a brisk pace. As soon as he walked in he shouted.

"Where's Urahara?

"Oh Kurosaki-san I didn't expect to see you back so soon after your little trip." Urahara's voice rang from the back.

"Well I didn't want to do to much today, but Rukia insisted. Anyways that's not the reason I came by so that you could make smart ass remarks. I want to know if anything has happened while I was gone? Or if that spirit transfusion you did between me and Kiego would have any side effects?"

Urahara's hand went to his chin and his head tilted up as he thought. "Well as for Asano-san nothing too major maybe just a heightened sense of spiritual awareness but that's about all. I knew he was spiritually aware already that's why I didn't think it would jar him to much to begin with. As for the rest of your friends I can't really think of anything that has happened to them recently. Why do you ask? Kurosaki-san."

"Hmph I can't really say. Kiego just didn't seem to be acting like himself today. In fact all my normal friends were kinda given me the cold shoulder today. It kinda freaked me out. I was just making sure nothing bad had happened to the,. Well then If you don't think anything has gone wrong I guess I'm just being a bit paranoid. Sometimes I forgot that not every problem is caused by hollows and Aizen. Well I'm gonna go home." Ichigo said as he got up to to leave.

"Ah Kurosaki-san I have a question for you as well. Kuromade-san has been mentioning problem more and more in our brief conversations. Do you think you could take a look at it for me?"

"Kuro who?" Ichigo asked.

"Zennosuke Kuromade the Shinigami that replaced Rukia when she was sentenced to death. I think people have been calling him Afro-san lately. Recently he has been complaining about some human that hides spirits from him. It's strange since he says he can still sense them they just seem to be actively hiding from him. This could be a problem. If Kurokuro village starts to fill with undeparted souls, hollows will swarm here. Can I ask you to find this person."

"Sure, but why can't the Afro guy take care of it?"

"Unfortunetly Kuromade-san isn't a very skilled Shinigami."

"Whatever where can I find this Afro guy?"

"He can usually be found standing on the tops of tall buildings posing for people who aren't really there. What a sad life"

"SHUT UP YOU WISH YOU COULD DO THAT TOO! THE WAY YOU ALWAYS ACT!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ichigo easily found Kuromade standing on a building posing just like Urahara said. "Hey! Are you Kuromade?"

"So Seireitei has finally recognized the weirdness that's been going on around here and has sent me some back up finally. Powerful hollows, regular humans that can see me, and even you a "Substitute" shinigami this town is really weird.

"Shut up I'm not here for that." was Ichigo's only reply. At this Kuromade faceplants.

"If your not here for that then why are you here?"

"Urahara wants me to find out who's hiding the undeparted souls. Do you know anything besides what you've already told Urahara?"

"Well ya it seems that whoever is hiding them seems to only hide children's souls. I've been able to find most adult souls, but I havn't sent any children souls to Soul Society since that weird insect soul sucking incident happened a week ago. I've never caught the person, but they don't seem to want to do anything evil with them. They just hide until I leave. The latest ones are in the park next to the old elementary school."

"Alright I'll go check it out." As Ichigo placed his foot on the railing of the building to jump Kuromade stopped him.

"Oi what are you going to do to the guy who's doing this?"

With a wry smile Ichigo replied. "What else? I'm gonna ask them why they're doing it."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At least that's what Ichigo had planned. And after two hours of searching he was seriously running out of patiance. _Wait that Afro guy said that this person was hiding kids souls. So maybe if I try to do a konsou on one I'll get them to come out._

Again Ichigo's plan while logically sound didn't mean he would find a child's soul very quickly. It wasn't until an hour later that he sensed one near the park the Kuromade had mentioned. _Wait there is more than one. I can sense maybe a dozen or more! This is bad how can they have not been eaten or sent to Soul Society already! If something doesn't happen soon this entire area will be swarming with hollows or SHIT! Maybe even a Gillian!_

Jumping from his spot on top of a nearby building he landed close to the edge of the park. _I've got to see what this guy looks like first before I make a move just in case I loose 'em. _Looking around he saw several spirits of children. Most of them seemed to be running drills as if they were in the middle of PE or something. The rest were sitting in front of a park bench intently listening to the person on it. That's when Ichigo noticed that the person on the bench wasn't a spirit. Suddenly one of the spirit children raised their hands. She was larger than the other children but maybe only ten or eleven and had bright orange hair like Ichigo only it was smooth and silky not at all spiky.

"Sensei but what if hiding doesn't work? I mean they have to be able to sense us some other way otherwise they would never find us."

"Ahh very good Nami. In that case what we do is we RUN!" At this the mystery person got up and started chasing after the spirit children. His arms raised like Frankensteins monster while he made a scary face. The children laughed and started running away. When the person turned towards where Ichigo was hiding he clearly saw his face. It was Kiego.

Suddenly another person came flying into view and delivered a flying kick to Kiego's chest. It was Arisawa!

"Kiego stop teasing them already! People already think we're crazy enough because we look like we are talking and playing by ourselves we don't need you adding to that! Plus their noise could attract a hollow!"

"Awwww come on Tatsuki Sensei! The children need to run, play, and be free like all little children should be. Pwease Tatsuki Sensei!" By now all the spirit children even the ones that were running drills seemed to be begging her to let them play.

"Oh alright but Kiego you stay quite or people are gonna call the cops. And we only have half an hour before we have to go back home you here me!" The last part she had to yell because the children were carrying Kiego off to play a game. Which worried Arisawa because if anyone saw right now it would look like Kiego was floating a good two feet off the ground.

Ichigo was totally stupified. _What the hell is going on here!_

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUN! Well here is the first chapter it's not to great but I'll work on it some more. Hopefully this isn't going to suck as much as I fear it will.

Please review cause I like them.


	2. The REAL Chapter 2

Hello again. I just want to start by saying thank you to Ravengirl54, SnowBlade85, and Nightshadegirl for my first story alerts and favorite author. (YAY someone like my story *dies of to much happiness*) Secondly I want to thank dragonlayer, Akatsuki Leader13, Ravengirl54 again, and darkangel1910 for my first reviews.

Okay to clear some things up yes Ichigo would call Tatsuki by her first name not by her last, but see this is where I messed up big time. I thought Arisawa was her first name. Yes I know big nooby mistake when writing international FF but hey like I said this is my first anime fic so I'm still trying to get everything down and well I wasn't careful enough (And I probably wont be this time either). Thank you Akatsuki Leader13 for bringing that to my attention. HMMMMMMMMMMMMM I don't think I can think of anything that I need to clear up besides that so let us get on with the story.

"Hey! There he is that's guy who got Tatsuki's names mixed up! GET 'EM!"

"OMG RUN AWAY! I DON'T OWN BLEACH OR ANYTHING ELSE! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!"

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_What the hell I'm I gonna do?_ Ichigo had been thinking the same thought for the past hour or so. After seeing two of his closes friends, not only interacting with ghosts, but keeping them from moving on to the other side, Ichigo didn't know what to do. _I can't turn them in. Who knows what Soul Society will do to them. The only reason I think they tolerate me and the others being spiritually aware is because I defeated Byakuya and Kariya. Not to mention I might play a major role in Aizen's downfall. I can't really say I trust them besides some of the ones I know about for sure. _

After seeing his friends, Kiego and Tatsuki, playing with several spirit children, Ichigo had headed home quickly he had to think about what he was going to do. He was now in bed thinking. A sliver of moonlight that penetrated through the clouds cut his body perfectly in half which was exactly how he felt at the moment. _I can't let them keep doing this, but I can't bring them into this mess either. And how do I explain everything? "Hey guys I'ma Shinigami and I gotta send these kids of to the other side where a terrible war is going to start soon. Oh and if they stay here they're gonna get eaten by horrible monsters that will then turn them into monsters!_

"GAHHHHHHHH" with a frustrated growl and a sudden sit up Ichigo wasn't any closer to a solution.

_Wait-a-minute Tatsuki said something about a home there's no way they could take all of those spirits to their houses even if they did split them into two groups. DAMMIT! Why did I leave so fucking early?!_ Grabbing his soul reaper badge Ichigo was out the window before his empty head even hit the pillow. Mentally kicking himself the whole way back to the playground. Fifteen minutes later when he arrived he wasn't surprised to see that both Kiego and Tatsuki had all ready left. _Hopefully I can pick up the spirit trail. _Concentrating on the residual spirit force left from all the spirit children, and from Kiego and Tatsuki as well which surprised him, Ichigo was finally able to reach out and grasp a large bundle of spirit ribbons that seemed to be close together and heading in the same direction.

"Whoa it's been a long time since I've done that. I wonder why I haven't though? Wait what the hell!" Looking down Ichigo looked and was completely surprised to see not only one, or two, but three different colored ribbons. Several where the standard white ribbons linked to human souls. Another was a bright red ribbon. It's way too bright for a Shinigami ribbon. _Those are more like a crimson or rose red._ While the other was a deep sea blue. _What the hell is this? I've never seen a blue spirit ribbon before. Then again I've never done this besides that one time. And it's not like I've asked about it when I was in Soul Society. Shit! What does this mean? Could it be a hollow?! And what about the weird Shinigami's ribbon? Who's following them? Damn it there's to many questions I need to get some answers!_

Following the trail Ichigo finally came upon an old rundown warehouse. It kinda looked like the one Chad and Inoue had described when they talked about their training with Yoruichi. Looking around Ichigo couldn't find anything out of the ordinary._ Well I'm pretty sure this was were all those spirit ribbons were heading. I'll check again just to make sure. _After the whole song and dance was over Ichigo was standing with the same bunch of ribbons in his hands. Looking up though Ichigo received yet another shock for the day. About fifteen feet in front of him the ribbons suddenly dissipated.

"Okay that's it! WHOEVER IS IN THEIR COME OUT RIGHT NOW! I WANT ANSWERS! WHAT IS GOING ON?" Ichigo bellowed.

"Jeez your so loud Ichigo. You know you don't have to yell to get my attention."

The voice was familiar to Ichigo. Kiego the brown haired bafoon.

"Oi! Kiego what are yo-WAHHH!" Unfortunately Ichigo never got to finish his sentence as Kiego's body came flying towards him and his arms wrapped around Ichigo's torso in a back breaking hug though for Ichigo it felt like more like a two year old's hug.

"IIII-CHIIIIIII-GOOOOOOO! I've missed you so much!"

"Oi! Oi! Ah grown man shouldn't be hugging other grown men! It's just weird!" _Wait-a-minute. _Ichigo thought._ I'm in my spirit form right now how is he able to touch me! Is he spiritually aware enough to do this?!_

"Dammit Kiego! I told you to not answer him! Now he knows we're here!" Even though Ichigo could hear the speaker he couldn't see her or detect her spiritual energy but he did recognize the voice.

"But didn't you see that ribbon trick? Urahara said he could do it and that he might find us with it anyways. Plus you sensed him in the park to didn't you? You knew he had already found us?"

"Yes but he didn't know we were **here** here we could have stayed quite and waited for him to leave did'ja ever think of that?!"

"Hey don't have a conversation when he's still lying on top of me and hugging me like a five year old! And don't talk about me like I don't even exist you stupid morons!"

Getting up and dusting himself off Kiego was soon helping Ichigo to his feet. "Come on we better get inside before someone notices that we are here."

As Ichigo stood there watching Kiego walk towards the warehouse. "Oi go where? And who's going to notice us?" Without saying a word Kiego continued to walk towards the small warehouse door. About halfway towards the door Kiego's entire body disappeared leaving Ichigo with an awe struck face. About two seconds later Kiego's head reappeared. "Hey Ichigo come on man we can't let any Hollows know where this place is or we're gonna have to move again."

_How the hell does he know about Hollows! _Feeling a bit apprehensive about walking into the strange warehouse Ichigo finally start walking forward towards the same area Kiego seemed to dissapear. At the same place Kiego disappeared Ichigo felt a weird feeling as if he was passing through a set of invisible drapes that flowed over him as he walked forward. After the feeling had passed Ichigo was now standing in front of Kiego, Tatsuki, and a lot of small spirit children. Looking behind himself Ichigo couldn't see anything different from before he walked forward.

"You guys have a lot of explaining to do."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Outside and on top of a nearby building a large shadowed figure watched with great interest as the orange haired Shinigami walked towards the warehouse and simply disappeared. Hmmmmmm so that's how they've been hiding all of those delicious children. Very interesting indeed. A chilling giggle emanated from the rooftop as the figure jumped to another rooftop to see if they could hear what was going on inside, and to be in a better position for an ambush.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Looking around Ichigo noticed that the inside of the warehouse looked very different. Before it simply looked like a any old abandoned warehouse. Dark and with a few pieces of garbage here and there. Now it looked like a very nice.......... well it was still a warehouse but now it looked livable at least and it was definitely warmer now. Bunk beds were spaced all around the center of the building while the walls held mostly what looked like barriers made from random junk except for the back wall which held a what looked like the TV area, the kitchen, and a long dinning room table in the corner. Besides that there wasn't much to the place besides the odd toy lying around.

For the most part the children didn't even notice Ichigo when he walked in. The ones that did though were soon hugging the legs of the two other humans found inside the warehouse.

"Asano-sensei isn't that one of those evil Shinigami spirits we are suppose to avoid?" A child with a long nose asked Kiego.

"Good job Usopp. Yes that is a Shinigami, but what we haven't told you guys yet is that this particular one right here is our friend. We won't have to worry about him trying to do anything bad to you guys. Right Ichigo?"

All three teenagers knew this was more of a question to see if he would in fact perform a konsou on the children rather than a simple fact.

"At least not for right now anyways", was the reply.

"See Usopp now go play with the other children." After the children had vacated the area around their guardian's legs the three teenagers sat down to talk.

The first to speak was of coarse Ichigo who got straight to the point. "So what the hell is going around here? How do you guys know about spirits let alone see and touch them? Why couldn't I sense you or the children outside of the warehouse? And most importantly why are you hiding them?"

Tatsuki was the first to answer. "Come on Ichigo. Do you really think you and the other guys are the only ones around here that knows what's going on? Just to let you know Kiego and I both went to go see Urahara after you guys went to Soul Society the first time. After that we kept going back to see if he could tell us anything about how you guys were holding up in the other world. Eventually we just ended up learning everything about what was going on through Urahara and his employees."

"So wait Urahara knows that you guys know about spirits, hollows, and even Aizen?"

"Weren't you just listening Ichigo? He doesn't just know he's the one who told us you idiot." Kiego replied.

Ichigo's face was something that couldn't have been described at that moment. He was happy because he wouldn't have to worry about keeping them in the dark. Mad at Urahara for dragging them into something that he thought didn't include them. Then he was a bit depressed that his friends had kept something like this from him in the first place not to mention they might be dragged into war that didn't concern them.

This didn't go unnoticed by Tatsuki. "Hey you weren't tearing yourself up over this were you?"

"What! Me? No I'm okay. So we've cleared up that I'm gonna have to kick Urahara's ass the next time I see him, but you still haven't answered my questions."

Again Tatsuki answered first. "Well Ichigo let me ask you this. Did you ever think about how Chad and Orihime got their powers? I mean we know that Ishida was already a Quimby from what we've heard so that explains his abilities but not Chad's or Orihime's."

"Oi it's Quincy not Quimby."

"Whatever your dodging the question."

"Look I don't know there was some talk about them training with Yoruichi I just kinds thought that's how they got their powers."

Kiego's face showed signs of smugness as he sat and listened to his friend just admit he was wrong about something. "Poor poor Ichigo he doesn't seem to know anything about how these powers are created." His hand was on his chin, with his head tilted down, and his eyes closed to make it look like he was evil genius telling his mortal enemy his entire plan because he was to stupid to figure it out. That lasted all of about five seconds as Ichigo soon had him in a headlock and was not letting go.

"Caann'tt breeeath leet go pleeease."

"Ichigo let'em go. If you kill him then I'll have to take care of all these kids by myself."

"Alright, but if he tries to act like a bad ass like that one more time," drawing out Zangetsu Ichigo started to look like a scary demon, "I will kill him."

A high pitched girlie scream was his only response.

"So how did Chad and Inoue get their powers then?"

After getting a grip on himself it was then Kiego's turn to answer the question. "Well what Urahara told us was that simply put was that them being around you when you released massive amounts of spirit energy triggered their powers. Or at the very least triggered the ability to obtain powers."

Ichigo was confused, "Well that's a nice piece of information and all, but what does that have to do with anything?!"

"Well you're the one who wanted to know how we could see and interact with ghost. I don't know if you remember but I was there when Orihime was attacked by that hollow in her apartment. Because I wasn't conscious after that I probably wasn't exposed enough to your spiritual energy to trigger any abilities but it did start allowing me to see spirit's and after Orihime used her Soten Kisshun on me for the first time to get the hollow thing out of me it allowed me to completly see and touch spirit's after that."

_Good then Inoue didn't tell her that it was her own brother that attacked her as a hollow. _"So wait you mean to tell me you've been spiritually aware even since then? Why didn't you tell anybody?"

"And what? Have you guys worried about me while your off to save our friends! Look the fact is I've been pissed off because I can't help anyone I care about! Trust me if knowing that I was spiritually aware would have helped anyone then I would have told somebody, but it wouldn't have okay so I kept it to myself."

"Well fine then! Don't even know why your yelling jeez. What about you Kiego?"

"Hmmmm me? Oh well after the spirit transfusion thing I was able to touch them. Also Urahara thinks that living in the spiritually rich environment of Karakaru town helped out as well. Before I could only see them even though I didn't know they were spirits. Like that Shinigami we hide from now. I didn't know he was a spirit until Urahara told me."

"Ok well that explains another reason why I'm gonna have to kick his ass. But that brings me to my next point. Why are you guys hiding all of these children? Do you know what can happen if they aren't sent over to Soul Society?"

Suddenly Kiego was very serious. "Of course we know what happens, but.......but what can we do? Soul Society is gonna be a warzone soon. We can't clense hollows like you guys can. All we can do is hide. And we can't even just stay inside all the time either otherwise the shield curtain that blocks all of our spiritual pressure wont hold and then every hollow in the city will know where we are! Why do you think we were in the park today? For fun? We were sitting ducks out there but it's the only way to give this warehouse times to dissipate our excess energy. Look we just hide the children until they feel like they are ready to go 'kay. Just last week we had three children pass over all of their own free will."

"Wait who sends them? Any regular Shinigami would report this by now."

Tatsuki was surprised at what her orange haired friend said. "What you don't know? Urahara sends them. He may not still be an active member of the Gotei 13 but he still has all of his previous abilities as a Shinigami even the ability to perform Konsou's."

_God damn you Urahara. Not only did you tell them all about this horrible predicament we've been pulled into, but you're the one helping them and leading me on a damn wild goose chase!_ "How did you guys even get into this? How did you even get this warehouse?!"

"Well the day after Kiego received his spirit transfusion from you he and I kinda went on.............a date." The small confession made her blush. In the background Kiego was holding up a banner that said "I HAD A DATE WITH TATSUKI! WAHOOOOOOOO"

"Oi what's with the banner?" Ichigo pointed out with a deadpan expression. After turning around Tatsuki saw the giant and all too familiar banner. "Damn it Kiego do you remember what I said I would do if I saw that thing one more time?"

"Ummmmm y-you s-s-said you turn me-me into a-a spirit and s-s-send me to S-Soul Society.......the hard way."

"Argh never-mind. Anyways it started after we had finished our date and were on our way home."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So Tatsuki did you enjoy the movie?"

"Hmm? Oh yea it was great. Lots of action with some cheesy romance, my favorite kind." She smiled kindly to him.

"That's good to hear. Ummmm by the way Tatsuki can I ask you something?"

"Sure go ahead."

Kiego blushed slightly working up the courage for his question. "Why, now of all times, did you ask me out on a date?"

"Oh well to put it simply after your accident you don't remember what happened that day right?"

"No not really. I woke up at Urahara's with a really bad headache. Urahara said that I was caught up in one of Ichigo's battles and that I was seriously hurt. In fact Ichigo had to give me some of his spiritual energy so that I could survive."

"Right so then you don't remember asking me out do you?"

If anyone could have seen Kiego's face at that moment they would have thought that Kiego had not just seen a ghost, but all of hell it self.

"YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT I FINALLY WORKED UP THE COURAGE TO ASK SOMEONE ON A DATE NOT TO MENTION YOU OF ALL PEOPLE AND THEN I LOSE MY MEMORY! DAMN YOU CRUEL FATES!" A quick bonk on the head provided by Kiego's date soon brought him back down to earth.

"What are you complaining for idiot? I still came out on the date with you. Even if I had to convince you that it was my idea. Other wise you would have acted like that and we wouldn't have gotten anywhere."

"So wait you said yes the first time!"

"Would I be here if I had turned you down the first time?"

"No I guess not. Well thanks for staying true to your word and taking me out even after I forgot."

"No problem." She replied. _I can never let him know that he didn't ask me out. I only asked him out now because his sister was begging all of his friends to cheer him up. He was so depressed when he heard that he had gotten in Ichigo's way the other day. God if he ever finds out I'm dead._

See Tatsuki thinking to much about something Kiego quickly changed the subject. "So I heard from Urahara that Ichigo and Orihime should be back from Soul Society soon. What are you gonna do when they get back?"

"I'm not sure. The first thing I wanna do is give Orihime a big giant hug because she would have come back safe, but because we can't let them know that we know they were doing something dangerous all I can do is just act like she came back from whatever excuse she used when she left. It really makes me feel like we aren't very close anymore because she has to keep this secret from me. But at the same time I'm proud of her for using her powers to help out our friends and I can understand why she doesn't tell me about it."

Kiego noted the sadness in her voice. "Hey now come on don't be sad. Do you think they would be any better off knowing that we know? They would probably worry to much about us thinking we might get in over our heads like I did with whoever Ichigo was fighting in that construction yard." While he was trying to cheer Tatsuki up Kiego soon realized that he had not only failed at that goal but had also depressed himself in the process. _Wow I'm really not good at this._

"Ya know you're really not good at this" was Tatsuki's sudden reply.

Kiego just looked at the slightly annoyed girl walking next to him and starting laughing like there was no tomorrow.

"Hey what are you laughing at?!"

Settling his laughter down to manageable giggles after a few minutes Kiego replied, "It was just that I was uh kinda thinking the same thing."

"That hardly seems like a reason to laugh like you've been punched one to many times."

"No it's not huh? I guess the tension around here has been so high lately that even the smallest good things can turn into entire reasons for living."

"Wow Kiego I didn't know that you could be that deep."

"Meh I'm usually to busy running for my life to impress people."

"Yea yea well why don't you put that amazing brain of yours to find our way home I think we got lost in more ways than one."

Looking around Kiego finally noticed that while they hadn't walked into a bad nieghboorhood they had in fact walked somewhere they were not familiar with at all.

"Well lets just go back the way we came. Maybe we'll get lucky and find a familiar street." As they turned to resume their backwards trek they saw something move near the end of the street. Knowing of their friends enemies and wild Hollows that lurked in the shadows both teens tensed up preparing themselves for what the shadow might be. But not wanting to get lost even further though spurred them to continue forward towards the unseen spirit. Once they were close enough though they were surprised to find a little boy. He wore only a large blue one piece pajama top that covered his entire body. The only other piece of clothing he wore was a small red top hat with small horns sewn into the hat sticking out.

"Do you think he's dangerous?" asked Kiego hiding behind Tatsuki.

"Aren't you supposed to be the man on this date?" was her reply.

"Look I'm your average guy alright, but once we step into the world of Hollows and stuff I'm still a baby okay. Would you be this brave if it was a Hollow we found?"

"Hey" the little spirit spoke. When he did both teens jumped at his voice.

Tatsuki leaned down so that the boy could see her face better. "Yes little boy?"

"Where is everyone?"

Kiego was curious, "Everyone who?"

"Who else my mama and papa. I was falling asleep in my room and the next thing I knew I was out here. It's very cold do you think you could help me find them?"

"Sure little guy we'll h-" Kiego tried to reply but was cut short by Tatsuki's hand covering his mouth.

"Just give us one second little boy okay?"

"Tony!"

"What?"

"My name is not little boy or little guy it's Tony."

"Okay Tony you just wait right there and we'll be back in a second." After walking a few feet away from the boy Tatsuki turned on Kiego. "Are you nuts haven't you noticed anything weird about him?"

"Other than the fact that he's outside in the middle of the night and needs someone's help not really."

"Alright fine but do you really think we can help him? We aren't Shinigami!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Look at his chest you brown haired idiot!"

Peeking around Tatsuki, since she was standing between him and the boy, Kiego looked at the boys chest. _Holy Shit!_ Right in the middle of his chest was a chain that seemed to disappear into his chest. The other end hung from the hole. It was hard to describe but Kiego suddenly felt like he was witnessing this poor boy's death right in front of him. _And he doesn't even know that he's dead oh my god. _Suddenly turning around Kiego vomited on the spot.

"Hey you okay?" Tatsuki cried out. The little boy ran over worried about the only two people who had stopped to help him.

"Tatsuki he......he......he's dead." The last part came out in a whisper.

"No offense Kiego but we've seen spirit's before what's so bad about this one now?"

"I-I-I-I don't know I ju-just I don't know okay it's hard to explain."

"Whatever come on we can't stay here long. From what Urahara's told us when a spirit doesn't pass over Hollows get attracted to it. Oi Tony lets go I don't know if we can find your parents but ya can't stay here by yourself lets go."

"Okay" was the squeak of a reply he gave.

Half an hour later the three travelers were no closer to getting anywhere near where they needed to be. Kiego didn't need Tatsukito walk anymore but he didn't look like he was going to run a marathon anytime soon. Tatsuki saw that both boys were tired so she decided they needed a break. "Okay guys lets rest in that park over there."

Looking up the boy saw the park. "Hey I know this place!" Running around Tony was soon climbing a ladder that lead to a platform about five feet up.

Kiego got an idea, "Oi Tony do you think you can remember where the movie theater is? Or maybe to a local payphone?"

Sliding down from the platform Tony replied when his feet touched the ground. "Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm? Sorry I don't really know this area very well either." An idea flashed through his mind though and he was soon smiling. "But I bet my parents would. Come on! I at least know the way to my house from here! Come On!" with that he was soon running down the street at a fast pace.

"Tony Wait!" Kiego yelled and ran after him. Tatsuki was right behind him.

"Kiego what's wrong?"

"Don't you get it? The last things he remembers was going to sleep in his own bed. And if spirits can't change the clothes that they died in then it's safe to assume that he died in his sleep. What we don't know is how. Dammit where did he go." Tony had rounded a corner and neither Kiego nor Tatsuki saw him. "God Damn IT!" The whole situation seemed to be pressuring Kiego to much as he soon lost his lunch again.

"Oi Kiego don't push yourself to hard."

"Tatsuki you don't get it." Kiego's head turned towards Tatsuki. _He's crying?_ "What if his house burned down and killed his parents too? Or what if his own mother or father kil-" Kiego was interrupted for a second time that day by Tatsuki's hand but this time it was in the form of a very hard slap.

Kiego just sat there rubbing his face.

"Don't even think about that Kiego. You'll just drive yourself insane that way. Like you said we don't know what happened to him. Maybe he died peacefully in his sleep from some kind of brain condition or something. **We don't know**. Okay. First thing we gotta do now if find the little brat."

"HEY GUYS OVER HERE! WHAT TAKING YOU SO LONG!?" They both looked up to see Tony's little frame peeking around a corner waving at them.

"Sorry about freaking out like that. I'll be good from now on" he said with a smile.

"Lets just hope you don't intend to make this a pattern for any of your future dates okay?" She reached out her hand to him.

"I'll try not to make a habit of freaking our and vomiting next time." He took her hand in his as she pulled him up. They both started walking towards Tony. Both hoping that when they got to his house they would find his parents alive and well.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Author's Notes: So sorry it took nearly 6 months to get this chapter up. But I had to move due to school and I just got internet back recently. And unfortunately I didn't continue writing while my internet was down. Infact I didn't even turn on my computer for these past six months hopefully I can make this a more steady story now so I hope you guys enjoy the story.


	3. Authors note

Hi there I'm the author sorry to have to do this. You see I wrote an authors not and posted it after chapter one to explain why I hadn't posted chapter two. Well when I got done with chapter two I simply replaced the author's note with the finished chapter two. But because I did it that way it didn't show that I had updated so now I'm forced to post **something** so that it will show my updated status. I will try to write out two chapters so I can replace this and then post the second new chapter and not have to do this anymore. Well anyways hope to get the new chapter up soon bye.


End file.
